Produce

The Fresh Produce & Floral Council once again dedicated its December Membership Luncheon to raising money for worthy charities. The luncheon, held Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at the Sheraton Cerritos in Cerritos, CA, featured live and silent auctions of donated items to raise money for the Orange County Food Bank and the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society and raised a total of $26,044. …

Pacific International Marketing (“Pacific”) is working with the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) and California Department of Public Health to coordinate a recall of Cilantro for potential contamination with Salmonella. FDA has advised that a sample of Pacific Cilantro has tested positive for Salmonella. A total of 6,141 cartons of Cilantro are being recalled. …

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Greenwood Mushroom Farm are warning the public not to consume the sliced mushrooms described below because the product may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. …

The United Fresh Produce Association’s Audits Benchmarking Matrix, an online tool designed to help produce supplier and customer companies compare third party audit and certification organizations, has been updated and is now available at www.unitedfresh.org/matrix. …

Representatives of the fresh tomato supply chain will convene at the headquarters of the Florida Tomato Exchange in Maitland this February to review how well the Food Safety Programs and Auditing Protocol for the Fresh Tomato Supply Chain, more commonly referred to as the Tomato Metrics, have worked over the past year in providing guidance on effective food safety systems for tomato production and handling, and as an audit tool to demonstrate the effectiveness of those systems. The meetings, February 1-2, are open to all stakeholders interested in safe production and handling practices for fresh tomatoes. …